


V. The Sacrifice Play

by BubblyWashingMachine



Series: Every Little Hurt Counts [febuwhump 2021] [5]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Banter, FebuWhump2021, Febuwhump, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Kidnapping, POV Ben Hargreeves, Post-Canon, Post-Season/Series 02, Protective Siblings, Sacrifice, Sibling Bonding, but tbh i'm attached to him now i like him, featuring once again a random OC for the villain, febuwhumpday5, prompt is 'take me instead', very wholesome, yes it is still the fifth barely
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-17 02:07:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29217702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BubblyWashingMachine/pseuds/BubblyWashingMachine
Summary: “We’ll get out of here,” Diego says confidently, glowering at the camera embedded into the ceiling.“How?” Klaus despairs, holding up his arm with the power-neutralizing wristband that all the living siblings have found themselves sporting. “Please, share this glorious plan with the rest of us.”“Diego is right,” Luther says boldly, in that voice he always uses for his inspiring speeches. “We might not be able to use our powers, but we’re still a team, a family. If we stay calm, and work together—"“We’re all gonna die,” Allison and Five grumble in unison....Post-season two (with no sparrows), the Hargreeves siblings find themselves in a less than ideal situation, courtesy of one pissed-off ex-Commission agent - but hey. It could be worse.
Relationships: Allison Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves, Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Ben Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Ben Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Vanya Hargreeves
Series: Every Little Hurt Counts [febuwhump 2021] [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2137428
Comments: 18
Kudos: 150





	V. The Sacrifice Play

**Author's Note:**

> Day 5 of febuwhump! Still going strong. Can't believe I've committed to this.  
> Set post season 2 but with no sparrows and ben is still hanging around! My reasoning for this is that the only reason the writers 'killed' ben was so they could have ben 2.0 in season three. if there are no sparrows, then ghost ben can stay! not just to make up for yesterday's.
> 
> Anyway I know the real reason you guys like me is because of my five and vanya interactions. don't worry this one has plenty of that and tomorrow's has even MORE!
> 
> I know no one cares but I really like this one. It's one of my favourites. I had kind of a bad day and it shows because the latter half of this is literally just wholesome banter and fluff because that's what I write when I'm lonely :) this is really cute and I hope you like it.

_Do not try to resist. Your powers have been neutralized._

“Damnit,” Five mutters.

“We’ll get out of here,” Diego says confidently, glowering at the camera embedded into the ceiling.

“How?” Klaus despairs, holding up his arm with the power-neutralizing wristband that all the living siblings have found themselves sporting. “Please, share this glorious plan with the rest of us.”

“Diego is right,” Luther says boldly, in that voice he always uses for his inspiring speeches, and Ben almost gasps. “We might not be able to use our powers, but we’re still a team, a family. If we stay calm, and work _together_ —"

“We’re all gonna die,” Allison and Five grumble in unison. That makes Ben smile.

“Come on,” Luther says, sighing.

“Look – okay. Shut up for a second – just let me think. I recognise the voice in that recording,” Five muses. He begins pacing. “It’s a commission thing – he does all their announcements.”

Diego cracks his knuckles. “So we’re dealing with someone with a grudge?”

“That seems the most likely option.” Five spins on his heel and starts pacing in the other direction. Ben laughs at the image – he really is such an old man – and sees Vanya struggling to smother her own amusement. “Vanya may have taken out most of the field agents—” Ben detects a note of pride in his voice, as there should be, “--but there was still a healthy proportion of bean-counters and pencil-pushers in the commission, people who might not subscribe to the same ideologies as your friends Herb and Dot. If I had to guess, I’d say we’re being used as some kind of bargaining chip.”

Ben cheers, as much as a ghost can cheer. Five is right, of course, he usually is.

“Oh, awesome,” Allison groans, flopping down onto the hard white floor. Ben sits down beside her, and eventually, so do Klaus and Vanya, leaving One, Two and Five in charge.

Luther tries to pry the wristband off Five’s arm, and all that happens is that he and Five both get electrocuted, badly.

When Diego and Luther fail to break down the door and end up in a heap on the floor, it starts to sink in that this might take a while. That they’re really stuck here.

“I can’t believe I just let myself get taken,” Vanya mumbles. “What good are my powers if they just _let_ me be kidnapped?”

“Well, Five’s here too, and he’s _Five_ , so I wouldn’t worry about it,” Klaus suggests mildly.

Vanya doesn’t seem comforted, unsurprisingly. She fidgets, glances over at where Five is muttering something to Luther and gesturing wildly. “That was my fault too. He jumped in front of me when they shot at us—”

“With those _darts_ ,” Allison supplies, grimacing.

“Yeah. Then I got shot too, anyway. I was totally useless.” Vanya lets out a shaky sigh, looking at her hands. “Pretty sure I blew a huge chunk out of my wall, though, and smashed all my windows. So there’s that.”

Ben wishes he could put his hand on her shoulder and tell her it wasn’t her fault. Tell her, in the warm conspiratorial tone they used to gossip together as kids with, that when they’d come for Klaus, he’d screamed, thrown the sandwich he’d been eating, and ducked behind Diego. He thinks Diego might kick Klaus out, now, at least for a week as revenge, which means they’ll be staying with Luther and Allison again. Not that there’s anything wrong with Luther and Allison’s – well, it’s only Allison’s when she’s not in LA - apartment, but Luther takes up so much space physically, and Allison takes up so much space through presence and personality, that it makes Diego’s dinky little basement look airy. It can be tiring.

But it beats going back to the Academy; silently, without discussion, all of them had decided to stay away from there. At least for the time being; though they do make an effort to return every Friday for dinner with Mom.

Klaus claps for her. “Atta girl!”

“Is Ben here?” Vanya asks Klaus while Diego, Five, and Luther conspire (argue) in the background, and then she flattens her hand over her face. “Oh, no powers. Sorry, I forgot.”

“ _I’m here_ ,” Ben tells her, uselessly.

“He’s probably around,” Klaus says, shrugging, and then turns his head around, eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Lurking. Plotting. Eaves-dropping. He likes to haunt _me_ , specifically.”

“ _Asshole_ ,” Ben says fondly. It’s not true, anyway. He likes to go check up on the others often – but it just feels kinda awkward and embarrassing when they can’t see or hear him. Like spying. Like he’s doing right now, really.

And sometimes when he goes wandering, he stumbles into emotional, personal conversations between Luther and Allison, since Luther’s trying to come to terms with all his Dad issues and stuff and Allison’s dealing with a lot of pain about losing her husband back in the 60s, as well as her visitation battle with Claire, which he then has to decide whether or not to eavesdrop on. He usually does. (He just likes to know what’s going on. It’s not weird.)

And one time he dropped into Vanya’s apartment while she and Five were cooking dinner and playing music – the siblings have made a mixtape with all the best modern music they think Five missed out on in the apocalypse – and, well. Five might be the worst dancer Ben’s ever seen in his life. Or his death. He thinks that if the boy – man – ever finds out Ben had been watching, he’ll find a way to kill him _again._

“I can’t believe he’s been… around, the whole time,” Vanya murmurs. “It’s just – too crazy to really imagine. He grew up, too. How does that work?”

“Yeah, I don’t really know,” Klaus says, waving a hand. “Hurts my brain to think about.”

“You should have told us,” Allison says, but she’s hesitant, and seems to know that it would have gone badly if he had. “Sooner, I mean.”

Klaus smiles at her, a genuine smile that morphs into one of self-mockery. “ _Shouldda, wouldda, couldda._ What can I say? I didn’t want to share him.”

Ben rolls his eyes. No one seems to know what to say to that.

 _“Hargreeves siblings,”_ calls a disdainful-sounding disembodied voice, _“You will now be transferred to a more secure holding facility for testing. Please do not bother resisting this relocation. Prepare yourselves.”_

“Jesus, has this guy seen a single movie?” Klaus scoffs. “Everyone knows—”

“—Never relocate your prisoners because it always gives them a chance to escape,” Diego finishes.

“What an amateur,” Five sneers, and everyone shifts awkwardly.

Vanya sounds disturbed. “They’re going to do _tests_ on us?”

“I’d bet there are more than a few morally bankrupt, deep-government illegal testing facilities who would pay a pretty penny for us,” Five tells her grimly.

“We have to get these things off!” Allison cries. “We can’t just _wait_ and see what happens!”

Luther looks worried. “But it electrocutes us if we touch it.”

“Argh, I bet _Ben_ would know what to do,” Diego grouches, and kicks the wall.

Ben feels doubtful. Klaus _looks_ doubtful.

“We hold out,” Five declares all of a sudden. “Bide our time, learn more, wait for an opportunity.”

“No way,” Diego says, furrowing his brow and jerking back. “That’s a shit plan.”

“Feel free to keep kicking the wall, if it makes you feel better.”

“So we just wait? And do nothing?” Vanya asks quietly, and Five hesitates.

“Yes. We wait for an opportunity to strike.”

“Okay,” she says, looking embarrassed. “Just checking.”

Diego scowls. “What if nothing happens? What then, genius?”

“Then we improvise,” Five says slowly, condescendingly, raising his arms. “Use plan B.”

“You have a plan B? You don’t even have a plan A!”

Luther shifts his weight. “Shouldn’t we all know this plan?”

“No,” Five says.

“Oh. Okay.”

Diego throws his hands up over his face. “Oh my God. We _are_ all going to die.” Allison pats his arm and rolls her eyes.

Vanya taps Five on the shoulder, and he spins around. “What?”

“Plan B?”

“That’s the letter that comes after A, yes.”

Vanya frowns, her eyes hardening. Ben feels like he’s once again intruding. “Like your same plan B from when we were kids?”

“Ah,” Five says, faltering.

Suddenly an alarm starts blaring. Everyone cringes and covers their ears until it stops, and the door swings open.

The Commission agent – or at least, that’s what Ben assumes he is, in his crisp blue suit – responsible for putting them here enters, flanked by a small militia of masked guards. The room starts to feel crowded, and Ben edges back into the corner so as to not stand _inside_ anyone.

The man says, “Hands up, all of you.”

“No, no, no,” Allison says strictly, taking a step back.

Diego, on the other hand, growls and steps forward, and several guns are suddenly pointed in his face.

“I don’t need all of you,” The Commission guy says, bored. “I don’t know if you _things_ feel emotions like the rest of us, but just know that I will not hesitate to kill any of you. I get paid either way; one, or six.”

“ _Dickhead_ ,” Ben spits.

“Oh, you’re just a jackass,” Klaus notes, sounding disappointed.

Commission man cocks his head, and the guards nudge the Academy into a line, Diego seeming to only barely resist fighting back when Five shoots him a Look. “You animals put me out of a job.” He shoots a particularly hateful glare towards Vanya.

“You should try retirement,” Five suggests lightly. “Maybe it’ll ease your temperament.”

“What, like it did yours?” The man says, and waves a gloved hand. They are forced towards the door, all while Ben hovers anxiously, angrily, uselessly. “No thanks.”

“Hey, stop _pushing_ me,” Klaus yelps, when a guard shoves him so hard he stumbles. Though he says it like an irritated child, there’s an undercurrent of fear in his voice that makes Ben squirm.

“We’re co-operating,” Luther says, clearing his throat. “Please calm down.”

“I don’t trust any of you,” the agent says matter-of-factly. “It’s nothing personal.”

Five grimaces.

Diego seems to give up being stoic, and says furiously, “We’re _not_ going to co-operate! We’re going to try and escape every single chance we get, _asshole_. You have no idea what you just got yourself into – we’re going to be the _biggest_ pain in your ass.”

“It’s true,” Allison says, lifting her chin. “We’ll keep fighting. You’ll have to kill all of us.”

A flicker of doubt seems to break through the man’s façade. “That’s a risk I’m willing to take. Soon you won’t be my problem.”

“A gambling man,” Five says.

“Perhaps.” The man stares him down coldly. “Perhaps not.”

The barrel of a gun is pressed against Five’s temple, and the boy – man – doesn’t flinch.

“Just take me,” Vanya blurts out suddenly, and everyone finally shuts up and turns to face her, mouths hanging open. “Take me instead,” she says again, quieter under the force of everyone looking at her. “I’m the world-killer, right? I’m the one you really want. Not these assholes.”

“Hey!” Klaus exclaims.

The Commission agent looks intrigued, and Ben wants to punch him. He says, “ _shit_ ,” but of course no one hears him.

Allison cocks her head, pulling a face that screams _that’s absurd._ “Vanya, no—"

“No way,” Diego interrupts.

“That’s not happening,” Five dismisses, and Ben figures that that must be the end of that.

But Vanya doesn’t give in. “I’ll co-operate if you let my family go,” she calls out, staring at the man defiantly. “Let them go and I promise I won’t fight.”

“Vanya, stop it!” Allison says, grabbing her sister’s arm. “We’re not letting that happen, okay?”

Ben frowns, and says, “ _Yeah!”_ Just for his own benefit.

Luther chimes in too. “Yeah, Vanya, just slow down for a second.”

Ben wishes so badly that they could hear him.

“I’ll co-operate if you let them go,” Vanya repeats steadily, unmoved, gazing at her siblings with an indecipherable look on her face. “But if you don’t, then I’ll never stop fighting back.”

“You make an interesting proposition,” The Commission agent says.

Five physically grabs Vanya by the shoulders and says, snarling, “Vanya, _shut up_. That’s _not_ happening, alright? Stop it.”

Vanya smiles sadly – or is that just her normal smile? – and gently takes Five’s hands off her shoulders, instead holding them in front of her tightly. Despite the brave face she’s putting on, probably for the benefit of the others, Ben thinks woefully, she must be nervous, her fingers tapping and fidgeting with nervous movements like an anxious tic. She looks at Five very seriously. “Five, just listen.”

“I’m listening,” he says suspiciously, slowly. Ben and the others frown at one another.

“It’s the only way,” Vanya tells him in a low voice, clutching his hands tightly. She must be having some kind of self-destructive moment. Self-sacrificing. But Ben knows Five – well, he used to know Five, and the boy he knew would never let a member of their family sacrifice themselves, unless of course that member was Five. “We have no other options. I want to keep you all safe.”

Five, uncharacteristically, remains silent, only looking at Vanya thoughtfully with a furrowed brow.

“ _Five, don’t listen to her,”_ Ben says to nobody, becoming uneasy the more Five just stands there. He’s not going to just let this happen, is he?

The silence thickens, everyone tense.

“You understand, don’t you?” An edge of anxious desperation leaks into Vanya’s words, her hands twitching. “Please.” Ben waits for Five to shut her down again, to tell her how ridiculous she’s being, to—

After a second of more eye contact, Five tugs his hands free, and clears his throat. He glances at Luther, then Diego. “I do.”

“What? Five, no!”

Ben gapes. “ _Five, come on!”_

“She’s right. It’s the only way,” Five says, turning to glare at the Commission agent. He can’t seem to look Vanya in the eye, and turns away, shifting closer to Klaus and leaning into him. Klaus looks confused, but offers comfort as best he can, and Ben knows that if he could see Ben right now Klaus would be shooting him a funny look.

Ben _does_ feel betrayed – he can’t believe Five would just give Vanya up, not after everything they all went through together.

Maybe he doesn’t know Five as well as he thought, he thinks unhappily.

Allison seems to agree, and throws her hands up. “Okay, _what_?”

“Very well,” the man in the blue suit says. “I’m willing to provide your _siblings_ ,” he says mockingly, “with their freedom, in exchange for your complete surrender and co-operation, world-killer.”

“Deal,” Vanya says, sounding relieved. Her posture relaxes. “But I’m going to need proof that you’re holding up your end of our agreement.”

“Vanya, you don’t have to do this,” Allison begs, her voice watery. “Please, don’t.”

Commission man ignores her. “You must take me for a fool if you really think I’m going to release Number Five right here.”

“What about… him?” She suggests lightly, gesturing to Klaus. “His powers aren’t useful for fighting – he doesn’t pose any threat to you. Release him in front of me, and I’ll know you’re staying true to your word.”

“Um, ouch,” Klaus says.

Luther looks like he really wants to step in front of everyone protectively. “Vanya…”

“And then you will co-operate?”

“Best behaviour here on out,” Vanya promises, smiling slightly. Her hair falls in her face.

“Fine,” the man drawls, and waves a hand. A guard hands him a chunky metal block, and Klaus gets shoved forward. He throws Five a vexed look from over his shoulder, but goes willingly.

The man presses the remote over the wristband, and it unlocks silently, popping open. Klaus flexes his hand, looks around discreetly, and winks at Ben.

The Commission man huffs, his mouth pressed into a thin line. “There. Are you satisfied?”

“Yes.” Vanya smiles. “Now I’m ready to go.”

Allison and Diego throw themselves forward furiously, and get manhandled back. “Vanya, _no_!”

The man gestures for Ben’s littlest sister to be marched forward, and just when they reach the door, Vanya turns and gives Klaus one last smile, her eyes glistening. Her words come out choked and emotional. “I love you all so much. I just wish – that Ben were here… that I could tell him how much I love him too…”

“You know, I think we can make that happen,” Klaus says cheerfully, and throws himself to the ground, his hands burning with harsh blue light. At the same time, Vanya kicks the Commission man in the knee and ducks, Five lunges, dragging Allison and Diego to the floor with him, Luther ducks down to shield them, and Ben feels his body start to tingle with light.

“I _knew_ you had a plan,” he yells triumphantly, and lets the Horror out.

…

Afterwards, when they’ve stumbled their way out of the holding room and facility – turns out it was a bunker – and found themselves in the middle of a forest with no way home, the Hargreeves siblings sit on the side of the highway and wait for a car to go past. So far there have been no cars. The sun is coming up.

“I think that went well, right?” Vanya says, wringing the blood out of her hair. Klaus leans over and picks a chunk of gore from her collar, flicking it back into the woods.

“Oh, totally.”

“I, for one, would have liked to have known what was going on,” Diego grumbles from where he lies in the grass. “We thought you were pulling the sacrifice play for real.”

“As if Five would ever just be like _oh okay Vanya, you can give yourself up to save the rest of us, that’s absolutely fine_ ,” Allison says confidently, and Five hums and doesn’t disagree. “I knew something was up. I was just playing along.”

“Who knew those old Morse code lessons would come in handy?” Vanya says, sounding very pleased with herself.

“And plan B,” Five says. “The sacrifice play. Works every time.”

“You’re just self-sacrificial to a fault,” Luther disagrees. “Of course you think that.”

“Well it wasn’t real,” Vanya says. “Just a ruse.”

“One that Diego wholeheartedly fell for.”

Diego sniffs, “Well, obviously I _suspected_ that—"

Five raises his head, and looks sceptical. “Are you sure, because the look on your face—”

“--and Vanya was completely over-acting by the way, I mean the _crying_ and the _I love you all so much,_ like, come _on_.”

“You were crying,” Vanya tells him, grinning. “I saw.”

Luther nods, leaning back happily on his elbows. “It’s true, you were.”

“Well - so were you!” Diego accuses, jabbing his finger at Luther’s chest, then immediately regretting it when his finger comes away bloody. He wipes it, disgusted, on Luther’s face.

Luther shrugs his massive shoulders, unaffected and content. “It was an emotional moment.”

Klaus flaps his hands around. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was all very touching, but can we acknowledge the real hero here?”

Vanya beams. “Ben!”

“No! Me!”

Allison speaks over them, complaining loudly. “Let’s hit up a mall on the way back. We’re disgusting.”

“ _Oops_ ,” Ben says.

“You wanna walk into a mall looking like that?” Diego asks her, laughing.

“Maybe we could force Five to wear something other than that uniform,” Klaus suggests, eyeing the boy – man – up and down and grimacing.

Five smiles sweetly. “Try it and see what happens.”

“He’s very attached to the uniform,” Vanya says sleepily. Five bumps her shoulder with his own, and she drops her head down, only to immediately recoil. Five looks offended. “Oh, gross. Not this one, I hope, because we’re burning it.”

He wrinkles his nose. “I like this one.”

“It looks the same as all your other ones!” Allison says, sounding exactly like a mom.

“Well, I can tell the difference. I’ll just wash it,” he says stubbornly, and gets a resounding _“NO!”_

“I’d like the record to state,” Klaus says loudly, “that Ben does not look sorry in the slightest for the fact that we all look like B-grade horror movie extras.”

Ben sticks his tongue out.

“Thanks, Ben,” Allison grumbles.

“I’d be really concerned if a movie used real blood and guts but still was only considered B-grade,” Vanya muses.

“I’m going to see if there’s a phone booth nearby,” Luther says. “Wait here guys, I’ll be back.” He gets up and ambles away, incredibly strange looking in his huge blood-stained coat.

“You’re gonna get lost, Luther,” Diego calls after him. “We won’t come looking for you!”

Allison glares at him, and yells, “I will!”

“Me too!” Vanya declares half-heartedly.

“I won’t,” Klaus gripes. “I’m tired.”

Ben is the only one who laughs, short and sharp, and Klaus looks smug.

“You’re evicted, by the way,” Diego tells him, as Ben had expected. “For that stunt you pulled at mine.”

Klaus mines shock. “ _What_ —okay, okay, that’s fair.”

After fifteen minutes, when the sun has almost fully risen and is painting the roadside in a soft white misty light, Luther comes walking back, and sits down beside Diego in his slow, gentle way. “Nothing.” Diego groans, and flops down onto his back in the grass.

“Oh, well,” Klaus sighs, collapsing, his head falling into Allison’s lap. “It could be worse.”

“It could be worse,” Five agrees quietly. Ben looks over at him, sees him sitting cross-legged and completely at ease - Vanya seems to have fallen asleep on Five’s shoulder, and Ben smiles, and leans back.

It could be worse.

**Author's Note:**

> leave a comment if you liked it, it would make me really happy. see you tomorrow <3


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